Manchester City Show Same Worrying Weaknesses in Celtic Draw

It was more of the same old story for Manchester City in their 1-1 draw with Celtic in the Champions League. Problems that have persisted over the last month or so of Pep Guardiola’s reign were on display once more, as his side were again too easy to beat defensively and struggled to put the ball in the net when they had the opportunity.

Of course, there has to be some mitigation for this one, as the manager shuffled his pack.

The Catalan made nine changes for the final Group C tie, having already qualified for the next phase, and he knew they were unable to catch Barcelona at the top of the table. Youngsters such as Tosin Adarabioyo and Pablo Maffeo were given the opportunity to impress from the start.

There were also several members of the squad playing in new and unfamiliar roles. There were four full-backs on the pitch to begin with—three of them right-sided—as Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy joined Maffeo in the starting lineup.

The two Frenchmen were moved inside to form a back three with Adarabioyo, while Zabaleta was left rolling back the years in a box-to-box midfield role—something nobody saw coming, but something he excelled at in spite of his recent leggy displays.

But still, with all that defensive experience on the pitch, it was a shaky start that led to the opening goal for the visitors.

It began in the third minute, as City’s back line was all over the place and stand-in goalkeeper Willy Caballero had to be alert to sprint off his line for a short back pass from Fernando. He hurt himself in the challenge that got the ball half away and stood up well to save from the second chance after the rebound.

City’s defensive frailties were exposed a minute later, as the Scottish champions took advantage of their bright opening. This time it was an error from the goalkeeper, whose dinked pass out towards Leroy Sane on the flank was overhit, leaving the winger unable to get it under control and allowed Celtic to pick up the ball in a dangerous area.

The home fans were given a taste of what is to come in future, as Patrick Roberts—on loan with the away side from City—led Clichy a merry dance on the right side of the box. The defender allowed the winger into the area far too easily, and the forward gave Caballero no chance with his finish.

If Guardiola wanted some signs that his team were learning the lessons of their past performances, then he was going to have to wait a little longer. Once more, a nervy opening was capitalised upon, and City conceded—it’s now just five clean sheets in 22 matches under the new manager.

Despite City’s dominance of the first half, a more clinical finish from Moussa Dembele should have put the visitors back into the lead following the equaliser, and it served to show Guardiola how easy it can be to get a shot on his team's goal.

Having broken through the City lines, the French forward forced a good save from Caballero and smashed the rebound into the side netting. It was close enough for the away fans to believe it was in, for a moment or two at least.

The speed of City’s recovery after falling behind will have been pleasing for Guardiola, though. Within four minutes of the opener, the hosts were level thanks to a decisive break and a wonderful finish from the lively Kelechi Iheanacho.

The striker started the move with a neat one-two with defensive midfielder Fernando—who was beginning to show a few nifty touches—and he sped away to find space. It was Nolito who slotted the ball through to him perfectly, and the Nigeria international hammered it into the top corner across Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

With only eight minutes played, it looked like the dead rubber was going to be a lot more exciting than it was first thought. But for all of City’s chances over the next 40 minutes or so, and for Celtic’s improved performance in the second period, the match petered out to a 1-1 draw.

As with the 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, City could have been out of sight by the hour mark. A decisive break from Zabaleta—in his new role of playmaker—put Iheanacho through shortly after his equaliser, but the Nigerian’s first touch let him down and he was denied by an excellent tackle.

The youngster was looking like City’s brightest player in front of goal, but he was denied by Gordon impressively late in the first half after Sagna had picked him out with a low cross.

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Aside from an effort perhaps wrongly ruled out for offside in the second half—Nolito appeared level with the defence when Jesus Navas crossed low, but it was tight—City didn’t particularly threaten the Celtic goal. A combination of the meaningless nature of the game and a rotated team perhaps, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that this is a recurring problem for Guardiola’s men.

At the other end, they rode their luck, too. Clichy, who had a difficult evening, could have given away a penalty for a pull on Roberts late in the first half, while Caballero was forced into a couple of decent stops after the break—the standout was another one-on-one that he was able to deflect behind.

Despite those worries, the manager can take positives from the performance. For the first time in a while, City were comfortable on the ball at the back and, barring the early mishaps, Caballero and his defence were all too happy to play it around under pressure. It hasn’t worked that way for a while, but on Tuesday, it was a tactic that helped the home side break through the Celtic lines.

While they weren’t up against one of the European elite, Zabaleta and Fernando were an impressive combination behind Ilkay Gundogan—the German’s man-of-the-match performance left the fans eagerly anticipating what he’ll be able to do in the coming weeks. Surely he'll be a key figure with Fernandinho suspended for the next three Premier League games.

Sane was another who showed he is beginning to settle into life in Manchester. He’s looking short of confidence, but he has no reason to be with displays such as the one he gave against Celtic. His highlight—a cheeky nutmeg on Mikael Lustig to fashion a breakaway late in the second half—showed what an exciting talent he could be.

The German, 20, also went close with a free-kick and could have forced a penalty when his low cross struck a hand late on.

This result was immaterial to City’s performance in the group as they couldn’t have moved from second position beforehand, but afterwards, Guardiola was philosophical about his team’s display.

"Considering this club has only reached the semi-final once in its history we should be happy with this," he said, per Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail. 

"The group was tough. What matters now is what level we are in next February when we compete against the best teams in Europe."

Two wins and three draws from their six matches means City will draw a group winner in the round of 16—though with the reformatting of the competition, that’s not necessarily as much of a hindrance as it used to be.

If Guardiola’s men can perform as they did in the 3-1 win against Barcelona, the rest of the competition will be shaking in their boots. However, after two uninspiring results in the two Champions League matches since that impressive showing on November 1, the jury is still very much out.